Album Notes

Dark Tales is an exciting and unique project that combines elements of quasi-impressionist classical, Latin-jazz infused with Nuevo-Spanish undertones, and experimental improvisations. The line-up consists of two English musicians: guitarist Dale Harris (better known as a concert Classical/Spanish guitarist) and Jez Henderson (drums/percussion) plus some special guests. All of the tracks introduce original compositions by Harris, Henderson and Hermans. The result is a musically satisfying and open-minded outing. Harris sounds rejuvenated and refreshed in this format, as he switches between Classical, Steel-string acoustic and an electric guitar that he often plays in combination with a midi-triggered guitar synthesizer. The result produces some luminous timbres and textures that eases the usual hard attack of the electric guitar.

‘Drones’ (often heard in Indian Classical music) are occasionally employed against improvised solo sections instead of merely repeating the harmonies that accompany the melody in traditional forms of jazz. Thus, the bluesy theme of Brother and Sister appears between an Indian-esque solo section with a sitar-like guitar solo. The beautiful melody in Fantasia For Ayrton Senna displays tenderness, sadness and joy as a tribute to the late famous grand prix multi-world champion. There is fascinating free-style interplay between drums and guitar on Dark Tales (part I) where swing-jazz meets atonality. Out Back (part I) resonates with Australian-Aborigonie rhythms and harmony. The percussion moves to the fore in Out Back (Part II) where some imaginative sound-scapes are created. Cruise Control is a fusion of a Spanish-Jazz-rock and descends into a 1970’s rock-shuffle rhythm against some strident alternative harmony (where Bartok almost meets Ravel’s Bolero). Rob Hermans (jnr.) sensitively reads the poem ‘I found a shell’ written by his late father Robert Hermans accompanied with some deeply resounding modal harmonies created by Dale Harris on his electric midi-guitar.

This is a fascinating original collection of music by some of the finest creative contempory musicians in the field today.